I would like to remind anyone viewing these photos that while the Pride parade in Reykjavík is a fun and colourful event, it does have a serious, dark undertone. Its purpose is not just to celebrate human diversity and make it visible. It also serves to remind us that not everyone has the privilege to be able to openly be themselves and to express their love without fear of persecution and even death.

I went to the parade this year determined to catch photos of some faces, rather than just of acts. I had hoped to get a bigger number of interesting shots of the spectators than I did, but no worries: there were plenty of interesting faces and facial expressions in the parade itself. Here are a few of them:

I just got back from the Reykjavík Pride celebration, and it was as colourful and happy as ever, despite the rain. This is only the first instalment of photos. I’m posting a few that only needed minor cropping and adjustment in the first batch. There will be more tomorrow, and possibly the day after, depending on how many publishable photos there are.

The Reykjavík Gay Pride festival has changed its name and become simply Reykjavík Pride. This reflects the participation of other groups, such as bisexuals, transsexuals and intersex people. The Pride parade, which is the climax of 5 days of celebration and awareness-raising, took place yesterday. There were fewer big floats with people in grand, glittery, shimmery showgirl/drag queen costumes than I have sometimes seen, but there was still a lot of colour (most images can been enlarged by clicking on them):

The rainbow flag was everywhere.

The largest groups of paraders were the friends and family who participated in support of their loved ones.

There were lots of smiling faces:

And also some serious ones:

The streets were pretty thronged, which led some to

adopt desperate measures to see better:

But it wasn’t all about fun:

Sign 1: Illegal in 78 countries. Signs in image 2: Various ignorant and insulting comments from the social media.

The sign says: “Let’s make it legal to kill homosexuals, drug addicts and illegal immigrants in Iceland”. I’m speechless.

But what’s that?

Páll Óskar closes the parade every year, and this year’s float was magnificent.